Editing Francis Marlin Blackthorne (section)

==Naval Academy & Marine Corps Beginnings (1928–1935)==
At 18, Blackthorne was accepted into the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, where he studied engineering, military strategy, and aviation. He earned his pilot’s license in 1930, making him one of the few Marine officers of his era to be trained in both ground combat and aerial reconnaissance.

He later pursued higher education at Yale University, earning a degree in International Relations. At Yale, he became a member of Skull and Bones, a secret society that would shape his lifelong interest in clandestine networks of power. His academic pursuits, however, were cut short by the outbreak of World War II.

Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 1932, he underwent rigorous training at Quantico before being stationed in Shanghai, China, with the 4th Marine Regiment, where he gained firsthand experience in urban combat and guerrilla warfare.